


The green mistake

by shippingisprobsmyjob007



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, First Meetings, Fluff, Graduate School, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 13:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13976205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shippingisprobsmyjob007/pseuds/shippingisprobsmyjob007
Summary: In which Lee Taeyong just wanted to get his hair dyed but a hairdresser's mistake gives him and the man with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen an interesting "meeting up" story.





	The green mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I kind of dedicate this one to one of my best friends and a huge Yutae shipper.   
> I hope you enjoy it!

It was a very sunny Saturday morning when Taeyong decided he wanted to dye his hair. There was no explicit reason he wanted to, he just found himself bored out of his mind while his housemate, Jaehyun, worked on his research project. Taeyong cursed the physics department for taking his friend away from him on a Saturday at 6:00 a.m. but he knew Jaehyun was not one to complain: the more chances he got at seeing a certain professor around the lab the better for his overall mood. So, he threw an old t-shirt he probably should’ve thrown away a long time ago, a pair of ripped jeans and walked out the door hoping to find a close hair saloon that was open, cheap, and didn’t have a huge wait line.

He found the perfect one after walking for about ten minutes. He praised whoever decided to open one so close to campus and walked in. Was extremely delighted to see there were not many customers inside. After signing up for a turn, he went to sit and wait to be called.

At first, he felt tempted to play games on his phone until his eyes landed on the man who sat across from him. His brown hair fell on his delicate face and Taeyong tried his best to find at least one flaw on this man’s face but he found none. The man was enthralled reading something on his iPad and Taeyong was sincerely curious as to what it was because, whatever he was reading, made him flash the brightest and most beautiful smile Taeyong had ever seen. The man closed his eyes as he chuckled a little, his shoulders moving lightly. Taeyong had stopped caring whether he would be caught or not long ago. Luckily, he wasn’t. The man was called over to go with one of the stylists.

“Yuta?” a small lady called, and he turned to her and flashed her his big smile and Taeyong felt a little jealous. He wished he could be smiled at like that. But he was just a stranger who was just staring too much. At least now, the most beautiful man in existence had a name. He texted Jaehyun a quick message _“Found someone who has a prettier smile than yours. Time to look for something you’re actually good at, Jaehyun.”_

_“pics or it didn’t happen”_ was Jaehyun’s response.

_“No, Mr. ‘I sit to the front of the lecture hall to creepily take pictures of my hot professor’”_ Taeyong responded back, feeling absolutely satisfied as he walked over towards the seat the hairdresser offered after calling him.

_“Rude.”_ Jaehyun’s one-word response made him chuckle and he looked at his phone gallery to find the hair color he wanted to try. The hairdresser asked him three times if he was sure about it and after saying yes each time, he tried to relax after getting the plastic cape on him. When he looked to the mirror next to his, he realized Yuta was sitting right next to him. Yuta looked back at his reflection and let out a soft smile. Taeyong softly nodded and smiled back.

“Trying something new?” Yuta asked and Taeyong felt his throat dry up. He nodded and hoped he wasn’t making a fool of himself. “I want to go darker,” Yuta said as he ran his fingers through his brown hair. “As dark as hair can actually go.”

“I think it will look awesome,” Taeyong responded and Yuta chuckled.

“I hope it does. I’m not gonna go bald to fix a mistake so it better be good from the start.” Yuta said. “So, where are you from?”

“Korea, you?” Taeyong asked, not wanting to assume.

“Japan,” Yuta smiled and Taeyong nodded.

“You’re pretty far from home,” Taeyong smiled and Yuta laughed.

“You too?” Yuta questioned and Taeyong laughed.

“Yeah, I guess me too.”

“So, you go to university?” Yuta asked and Taeyong nodded.

“Yes! I’m doing a master’s in astrophysics. What about you?” It was obvious Taeyong felt proud of himself. For years he struggled with coming up with a subject that he enjoyed studying. General physics were a nightmare when he started his bachelor’s years prior but an introductory course in astrophysics and a seminar back in Seoul convinced him to switch majors.

“I study East Asian literature,” Yuta responded.

“Why are you in America studying that?” Taeyong asked, genuinely curious. Both hairdressers had come back with their dyes and started to comb through their hair, having to pin it since both Taeyong and Yuta had rather long hair.

“I was actually curious at the way Americans see and teach our literature,” Yuta smiled. “I also received a scholarship to come here and do some type of research on it. It’s fascinating, actually.” Taeyong nodded. He felt the cold dye hitting his head and how the hairdresser brushed it evenly from scalp to ends.

“That is actually cool. I wish I liked reading more.”

“It’s all about finding the right books,” Yuta responded.

“What do you miss most from home?” Taeyong asked and Yuta sighed.

“My mom’s cooking,” Yuta said. “No matter how authentic restaurants here want to be, no one seems to know how to make good takoyaki. It’s my mom’s best dish.”

“Ah,” Taeyong mumbled. “I miss my mom’s cooking the most too.”

“I tried to learn last time I visited,” Yuta confessed. “It didn’t go well. My kitchen here is small and I had no help and I forgot the way she made it so I ended up ordering a pizza to take my mind off it.” Taeyong laughed.

“I am a good cook. Or at least my friends here say so. I had to master my housemate’s favorite foods because he is often stressed with school and his research project so I try to make him feel better. He gets homesick a lot too,” Taeyong said, fondly remembering Jaehyun’s gratefulness anytime he prepared meat and stir-fried rice cakes. He suddenly felt like he wanted to prepare something for dinner later, 6 a.m. research runs meant Jaehyun would be moody and it was never anything Taeyong couldn’t solve with food and gaming sessions.

“Your housemate is lucky. I live alone,” Yuta commented.

“Well, whenever you want something homemade but not do it yourself you can always count on me for that,” Taeyong said and blushed furiously as he realized he had just tried to make Yuta interested in him beyond these chit chats on a hair salon.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Yuta responded and Taeyong smiled.

For the next few hours, they talked as if they were old friends. It was mostly about college, their friends, their hometowns, how strikingly similar Taeyong looked to a guy who was feeding pigeons at a fountain outside the physics building and how Taeyong _was_ the guy who was feeding pigeons outside the physics building after going through the hardest lab project in his academic career. Yuta started to notice the way Taeyong’s face seemed to illuminate whenever he laughed, he noticed the small blush of embarrassment as he confessed feeding pigeons at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, he noticed how his hair was getting darker with every passing minute which contrasted with his skin which seemed to glow.

They were taken over to get their hair washed at the same time. The hairdressers wrapped towels on them before they head back to their original seats.

When the hairdresser took Taeyong’s towel off, he was extremely confused. His hair was black. Like absolutely dark. It took him a few seconds to realize what was happening. As realization hit him, he took a hand towards his mouth and closed his eyes as he waited. If his hair was black now, it could only mean…

Yuta’s screech could be heard outside the salon.

“Why is my hair green? Why is my hair _green_?” Yuta screamed horrified as he tried to comb his wet hair with his fingers. Even wet it was obvious his hair was a very vivid green color. “Why do I look like the joker? I wanted black hair!” The hairdresser tried to calm Yuta down as she explained a mistake had been made. She apologized profusely but all he could do was look at the mirror as if he was about to start crying. “I just wanted to darken my hair. Who in their right mind wants to get their hair dyed green?” he looked over at Taeyong, who couldn’t even face him. “Seriously? Green?”

“I wanted to try something different,” Taeyong’s voice faltered a little. He knew it wasn’t really his fault but he felt bad for Yuta. The guy just wanted a natural hair color and the hairdressers somehow got their dyes mixed and now Taeyong’s green dye had been sitting on Yuta’s hair for hours. How none of them noticed was beyond him.

Yuta realized Taeyong also looked like he wanted to cry. He must’ve thought that Yuta was angry at him. And he must feel judged over Yuta’s last statement. Yuta breathed in deeply and stood up from the chair. He walked over to Taeyong and offered his hand. Surprised, Taeyong took it and found himself being pulled off the chair.

“You’re making me dinner,” Yuta smiled, his voice softer now.   
“What, why?” Taeyong asked, his voice a bit normal again after seeing Yuta’s softened expressions.

“Because you wanted your hair green and I got green hair instead and now I am actually considering going bald but I am also considering that I haven’t gotten your number and you said you’d cook for me.”

“I’m sorry about your hair,” Taeyong said as they left the salon, not even bothering to pay attention to the apologetic hairdressers nor the lady at the counter who still seemed like she wanted to charge them for the services.

“You would’ve totally rock it. However,” Yuta said as he grabbed Taeyong’s hand making him blush, “that black hair suits you even more.” Taeyong felt on cloud nine as he walked back to his place, hand in hand with this stranger who seemed to want to comfort him as he kept softly squeezing Taeyong’s hand.

Taeyong couldn’t understand the inner workings of Yuta’s mind. Instead of thinking Taeyong was the culprit on having his hair dyed green for a few weeks, he was sitting at his dining table flirting with Taeyong who was thankful he was giving Yuta his back as he cooked. That way he wouldn’t be able to see the undying blush on his cheeks. As he cooked they kept talking as if nothing had happened and Taeyong felt so happy that when Jaehyun whispered to him to ask him what was up with the Grinch at the dining table, he was able to just ignore him and serve the food; a plate for his housemate, a plate for a green haired Prince Charming, and one for himself.


End file.
